Lessons, Observations and Open-Ended Questions from the Covid Era

It’s been about six months since we all learned that COVID-19 was to have a profound impact on our lives as both human beings and as investors. We have written a series of essays throughout this time that dealt with a variety of subjects, ranging from the long-term winners from the pandemic, the long-term losers, the future relationship between the stock and bond markets, and the impact of massive government economic intervention on active management and a “fair” economic recovery. Naturally, for most of us, our roles as professional investors force us – if only for the purpose of self-preservation – to focus on the here and now. Long-term thinking and planning is a luxury in the competitive world of money management. Today, I simply wanted to synthesize a variety of long-term thoughts, observations, and questions I have developed during our collective six months of solitude. I thought the Thursday before Labor Day was a good time to do it, before the sturm und drang of the election and the sprint to the finish of the year start in earnest on Tuesday. Some of these musings are highly personal, some deal with running a business, while others deal only with the investment world. I apologize in advance if they may offend you in any way.

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